Editorial Commentary

Unmanaged Competition

Making health care into a real economy

Areader recently asked, "If the Affordable Care Act isn't the answer, what is?" Another asked, "Do you really want a health-insurance system without government regulation?" These are fair questions. We have found problems with the new health-care law—both operational and philosophical—to be so compelling that even the status quo ante seems preferable, but we also have a better vision.

Neither a benevolent dictator nor an army of bureaucrats can create an ideal system that serves all possible buyers of...